Absolite Arc: Bad Old Times
"Here, as a small gesture of compensation!" Jayden tossed Mari a freshly picked berry. "Dig in, they're really yummy!" Mari caught the berry and looked at it. "...Thanks. A Mago Berry, right? I've never really tried one before." Then, she tasted it. "Wow, you're right! They are really delicious!",
"It's one of the sweetest berries in the world." Jayden tilted his head to the side and smiled. "I'm a jerk sometimes, but I know how to apologize. At least a little."
They continued walking. "I'm a little worried." Jacky admitted after a while of silence. "If the stone we're heading for really isn't meant for one of our Pokémon, we're wasting time...",
"Well, we should first check the stone out in detail, and then, we might find out which one it is. They have been researched, after all. I am pretty sure the internet has the answer", Mari thought.
"That's... a good idea, actually.",
"Of course it is. I'm clever~" She winked at her. "Say, Jayden... is this a good place to stargaze?",
"There wouldn't be a better place around these parts." Jayden nodded and rummaged around in his bag until he found a chocolate bar and bit into it. "The sun's going to set soon anyway, so I think it's best if we go a little further and then set up camp.",
"Alright, sounds good." Mari nodded. "This could actually be a pretty nice evening.",
"I think so too," the redhead grinned again with that mischievous look in his eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?! I was talking about the stars!" Mari defended herself immediately. This time, Jacky had to laugh. Her friend gave her a disapproving look and she immediately raised her hands. "Sorry."
Mari rolled her eyes, then looked ahead again. "Tell me, Jayden... are you really supposed to marry a nun? It sounds pretty strange to me.",
"No, not exactly, but Grandpa would like it that way." Jayden slowed his pace so that he was now walking beside the girls. "So that I stay inside the monastery, you know?",
"But... isn't that... I don't know... boring after a while? What do your parents do, anyway?", "Okay." Jayden didn't respond as calmly as before. "That's enough questions for today."
Mari felt like she had hit a nerve. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...",
"No feeling guilty please, cutiepie." He plucked another berry from a bush and nibbled on it. "That'll sour the whole evening.",
"Ugh! I told you not to call me that!",
"Mari, 'scuse me", he interrupted her, raising a hand in apology, but he kept grinning.
"Look, I know you're having fun with this, but I barely know you, so I think it's weird that you call me that", Mari explained sternly. "Don't take it too personally."
Jayden raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah?"
She looked up at the sky where the sun was already setting and ignored him.
"You know what? I'm going to gather some wood." Jayden was still smiling in his typical amused way. "You two can make yourselves comfortable somewhere and pick berries on the way.",
"Okay, I'll light the fire." Mari muttered, looking at Jacky. "Come."
Jayden gave her a raised thumb before walking over to a small group of trees. Mari looked around and then pointed to a spot under an old-looking oak tree. "What do you think?",
"Looks good." Jacky nodded and watched Jayden picking up twigs. "At least you guys get along well enough that you don't chop his head off.",
"Hmm... I hope it stays that way", Mari grumbled before walking over to the tree. "I mean, we could as well make our way to the top of the mountain without him, so it's not like he's super valuable for our tour."
Jacky followed her and sat down next to the tree trunk. "Jeez... poor dude. I never thought we'd see him again. Your eyes almost fell out of your head when he stood in front of us." She giggled softly.
"Where would you least expect to find a sassy, candy-loving idiot like him? Probably in a monastery.",
"Hey, he apologized!",
"Yeah, I know, but I don't think he meant it."
Jacky tightened her legs and leaned back. "Well, he's only our tour guide for a day or two. Hopefully you'll both come back alive in the end.",
"Are you having doubts about that?" Mari sat down next to her.
"Well, it could happen that you guys end up tearing each other apart in a fight or something. Though you're more prone to freaking out than him, I think. No hard feelings.",
"Hm... I'll try to let him live. He is... more tolerable than Dino, at least...",
"That guy really went overboard last time." Jacky sighed annoyed. "We'll see him again in the Pokémon League at the latest, and in the worst case, we'll even have to fight him.",
"Then, I'll have plenty of time to think about how I will kill him. Whether I grill him or tear him to pieces or throw him off a cliff...",
"Seems like someone here already has plenty of plans for the future." Jayden remarked as he came back.
"Yeah, seems like it, doesn't it?" Mari muttered. Jayden took the pieces of wood from under his arm and tossed them on the ground. Then, he sat down with them and put a lollipop in his mouth. "But just out of curiosity, is that Dino guy really that insufferable?",
"Oh yeah. He's a big show-off, very irritating and stuck-up beyond belief." Mari scoffed. "He had the gall to ask if he could keep that Noibat we found... for his 'collection'. Jacky's had to stop me from murdering him twice already.",
"I'll make a mental note to never pick a fight with you." He blinked, then brushed a red strand behind his ear.
"That's probably best for you. Although I suspect you will not honor that mental note. Combusken, come out!" Mari took out a Pokéball and her Combusken appeared next to her. "Would you please be so kind and light the fire for us?" she asked. Combusken nodded and lit the woodpile with a small flame. "Thank you." She patted its shoulder gratefully and gently.
"A Combusken, huh?", Jayden eyed the Pokémon with interest. "Nice. You know, Grandpa and the others run a little rescue center for abandoned Pokémon here at the monastery. It's amazing what you can find there sometimes.",
"I took Combusken in because its former trainer abused it in a very brutal way." Mari explained. "Some of the injuries were so severe that the nurse couldn't even tell if it would ever be able to fight again. You can still see some remnants.",
"Yeah, I see it..." Jayden pointed to some old scars on Combusken's body.
"I'm taking care of it now", Mari said. "As of today, however, it will be able to fully recover.", "One day, a badly injured Lanturn washed ashore on the beach of Lacunosa", Jayden recounted, his green eyes darkening a bit, as if those memories still weighed very heavily on him. "It looked really bad, it had abrasions all over its body and a lot of serious injuries. I took it to Grandpa and he said that only a special kind of sea herb could be effective enough to heal it, otherwise, it wouldn't last much longer. Lacunosa's community center provided us with a tank to put it in and I went diving at the beach every day to look for those herbs. In the depths of winter.",
"Did you find them?" Mari asked.
"No..." Jayden sighed and looked into the fire. "I searched every day, swimming farther and farther out, catching more colds than I could count. Sister Nadia and Sister Tiana had already gotten used to waiting in my room with hot water bottles and warm cocoa. Lanturn was getting weaker with each passing day. Its injuries were so severe that normal remedies were completely useless. So... I wanted to dive for those aquatic plants one last time, and then... I saw Manaphy right where I had found that Lanturn. With the herbs we needed. It brought them to us.",
"I'm glad to know you have a big heart for Pokémon, Jayden", Mari said as she looked into the fire as well.
"It's only natural, cutiepie," he replied. Mari rolled her eyes and sighed, but said nothing in response. He changed the subject. "You guys are on a journey, right? As... Pokémon Trainers?",
"That's correct." Mari nodded. "We saved my Skarmory from Pokémon poachers who were after its iron feathers. Gabite fought Jacky's Medicham in the forest near Virbank City. Some sort of territorial dispute, I think... And we saved Zoroark from a wild Hypno when it was still a Zorua.",
"Sounds pretty interesting. What about you?" He looked at Jacky.
"Oh. Um... Luxray was with Zorua when we met it", she explained, "While Zorua had been sleepwalking, Shinx was there to protect it. Medicham joined me after we intervened in the battle between it and Gabite. My Budew hatched from an egg I got from my mother, and we discovered Noivern when we were on the ferry from Virbank to Castelia. It was still a little Noibat and got separated from its family. Currently, we are on the quest of bringing it to the place it and its parents were supposed to head. Dragon Spiral Tower. My Absol was my very first Pokémon.",
"Absol are really rare Pokémon", Jayden remarked. "They were hunted mercilessly in the past. Many of them were killed, the rest driven into the mountains. It was believed that they would bring bad luck to anyone who saw them because they could foresee calamities...", "Absol being a messenger of the apocalypse is nothing more than superstition", Mari said with her arms crossed. "They were trying to warn people about what was going to happen, but some people are just super committed to misunderstanding everything.",
"Of course it was mere superstition, but there was no Wikipedia back then", Jayden said. "And not only Absol were hunted back then, but many other Pokémon too, like Murkrow, for example. They were believed to be harbingers of disaster when spotted at night... and many also believed that they would gather around wanderers to lure them deep into the forests. Ninetales were viewed as vindictive and vengeful Pokémon whose tails could transfer extremely terrible curses.. and they were also said to be able to control their opponent's mind. Thus, they were feared and driven away from human residences... Many tales tell of towns burned down from a Ninetales' wrath." He gazed into the fire again. "You mentioned you have a Zorua... did you know that even they were victims of humans' pathological fear of the unknown and superstitious beliefs?",
"They were?",
"Yes." He nodded. "Because they were so skiddish, they used to transform into humans to camouflage, but... many viewed it as terrifying and thus drove them away. They ended up having to hide in the vast snowy mountain areas of the Sinnoh Region, back then known as Hisui, where they could not survive... legend has it that their resentment towards humanity was so strong their restless souls took form once more, and they became aggressive towards humans, attacking them straight away if they were to encounter one... If you encountered a Zorua on your journey and it trusts you, feel honored, because seeing one in the first place is a rare occasion in and of itself... but having one as a trusted partner is even more rare.",
"It... was very cruel... Many Pokémon were treated so badly in the past..." Mari sighed sadly. "It's unfathomable to me.",
"So is it to me, but it happened, and we have to live with that knowledge and try to make it better than the people of the past.",
"... My first Pokémon was a Ralts. It has since evolved into a Gardevoir.",
"Doesn't suit you at all, cutiepie", he commented. "Mari, I'm sorry.",
"Why is that?",
"Well... Gardevoir are so... elegant, girly and level-headed and you... Uh... I want to keep my head on my neck, so I better shut up.",
"You're dead wrong", Mari clarified. "Gardevoir may be a very female and innocent-looking Pokémon, but it can also be very, very scary when it's upset. Rumor has it it can create black holes by bending air with its strong psychokinetic powers...",
"I'd rather not try that." He laughed softly.
Jacky yawned behind her hand and curled up against the tree trunk. "Keep talking, you two... I'm tired, so I'm going to go to sleep now. Good night.",
"Sleep well." Mari nodded to her. Jacky closed her eyes and buried her face in her knees. Seconds later, she was already asleep.